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Labour Party to unveil vision of immigration policy

The UK’s Labour Party is set to outline its vision for a post-Brexit immigration system which includes a simplified visa regime for foreign workers.

Later today, Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott will lay out plans for an accelerated citizenship and visa system which allows skilled foreign workers like doctors and nurses to more easily move to the UK.

The Labour Party will say it would adjust the system according to the needs of the British economy and that immigration would be driven by the sectors which are currently understaffed.

“Under a new work visa system, anyone with specified bona fide skills can come here to work,” Ms Abbott will say. “The new, integrated work visa will allow us to offer rights of work and residency and accelerated citizenship to a range of professions, workers and those creating employment who want to come here.”

She will also reaffirm the Labour Party position that immigration policy should be on the basis of what skills are needed over “meaningless and arbitrary targets”.

The party has previously said that it would scrap Theresa May’s “fake” target to cut net migration to the tens of thousands

Abbott’s speech comes ahead of a key report from the migration advisory committee, to be published next Tuesday, regarding the impact of EU migration on the UK’s labour market. It is expected to inform the government’s post-Brexit immigration policy. Ministers have already delayed the publication of an immigration white paper until after the advisory committee’s publication.